Congrats on getting it running, that's a really neat project.

Sean, is the vibration gone?
Your thrashing has paid off, and you accomplished an incredible amount of work in a very short time. My hats off to you sir!

Nice work!! Congrats on the extended test drive. Hopefully the vibration issue is cleared up as well.

I like the console, I see you decided to put the cup holders in front of the hifter, smart man! Good luck with the fine tuning...and the trip to Thunderhill. You've earned it.

Awesome. Glad to hear you finally was able to drive it with no engine issues. Truck turned out great, congrats!

BTW, When I bought my f150 fx4 with 5.0 a few years ago, I had to do a double check when I read the oil pan holds 7.7qts.

Congratulation's getting it all together and running. You did a great job. I hope you make your deadline .

Nice shakedown, 75 miles without major issue is dang good.......so, will it do 130mph in 4th?

Good work Sean! I'll see you next week.

:thumbsup:

I like your CAD skills!
CAD = Cardboard Added Design.

You sir do some nice work! You're very inspiring.

Thanks guys, Appreciate the kind words.

Not sure about 130 in 4th gear :popcorn2:

Well, I had a pretty successful day yesterday. I was hearing a lot of noise from the passenger front wheel though when coming to a stop. I got home and jacked up that corner and looked things over. I found that I had overlooked a pretty hammered lower ball joint and a wasted wheel hub. So, parts got ordered and then this commenced last night.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pspubrxk9m.jpg

I also got the opportunity as written above to hammer on the brakes a few times. Nothing broke =) Stops the truck pretty damn good. Also drove it this morning and the brake noise on the passenger side is all gone.

Had to do a bunch of other stuff today, a little emergency car rescue with the trailer for a buddy and some clean up around the house.

I pulled the passenger seat out and finally got around to putting the seatbelt on that side as well. I had found some paint for the brackets that I wanted to try, its satin dark walnut and Ill be damned if its not almost an exact match to the seat material. I was super happy with how that whole seat, seat bracket and seat belt turned out.

I also spent the time to build the brackets to hold the door switches and got those all wired up to the revolution electronics module for the soft on, delay, soft off. Got the under dash lights all installed and wired up as well.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psrqzstsdy.jpg

I really dig the interior, its super clean and functional.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psygktb5bx.mp4

Took it over to the scales to see what I was working with. Full tank of gas in it and its right at 3500 lbs. Not too bad.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psfsizroi8.jpg

Gotta try and figure out the vibration tomorrow, get a better alignment on the old girl and work on the car trailer. 4 days to go till I gotta head to California.

can't wait to see it at Thunderhill.

Sean. Something you might consider. Id post the link, but my phone isnt cooperating. Search Big brakes on a not so big budget. Its a thread on the Mercury Marauder site. Basicly, its a 14 inch GT500 rotors, C5 Vette dual piston calipers, and brakes hoses from Jegs. There is a guy on that site who sells caliper brackets to make it work. Total, depending on how cheap you can get the calipers w/abuntments is under $6-700.

That is some great advice!! I spent a couple hours last night reading up on the kit they put together looks like it would be a really budget way to get some bigger brakes under the front. Ill likely order some brackets next week when I am back from California. Thank you for sharing, I would have never found that.

I was going to just live with the unfinished parts behind the seat but the other night when I was painting the seat brackets and getting the seats installed, I just could not stand it any longer and got to work.

I started by building some panels to cover up the unsightly back part of the cab where the fuel tank used to reside. They are super light, made of plastic and pretty easy to work with.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psijtwk2gh.jpg

A little sanding on the pieces and they were ready to get covered.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psitt0q9eb.jpg

I still was having some trouble with what to do about the back wall flat area, but I knew that I needed to continue the stitch.

I cut some 1/2" x 3/4" pieces and rounded over one side and glued it to the flat PVC Foamboard, it glues together nicely. I got that stuff covered and also cut out the center panel to get the stitch done on.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1msulx6o.jpg

A quick trip up to the upholsterer and Voila.

Its not perfect, but its about 100x better than before. I would like to make it have some curve like the front, maybe on the next one.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psonwyzvii.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psjagekusq.jpg

I also made a trip to the alignment shop as well. I heard about some people locally that could do a more performance oriented alignment and they certainly did not dissapoint.

We got the truck right up on the rack and they threw their fancy stuff on it and got a baseline.

All of my measuring, remeasuring and OCd of placement of the links, suspension points and front end paid off as they were pretty suprised to see how close I had everything. Chassis is square and suspension is all within 1/16th of an inch of where it should be, wheelbase was about perfect side to side as well. We started with 5.66 degrees of caster, .10 degree of toe and 1.56 and 1.55 degree of negative camber. I was shocked.

They straightened out the steering wheel, dialed in the camber right at 2 degrees and left the caster alone. I seriously encourage anyone who does this swap to keep the lower rear suspension mounts at a 45 degree angle and if you are going to lower it, install the SPC Camber adjustment bolts. Both allowed me to have a very functional front suspension and a pretty low ride height.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psv4yzmyop.jpg

I also put on my new sticker....Manual Gearbox Preservation society =)

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1ditz5wz.jpg

Still chasing the vibration, but I adjusted the lower rear links to the next hole up and went in 5 clicks on the adjusters of the coilovers and it made a huge difference.

Wheel travel is much more controlled and ride is greatly improved. Hope to mess with it some more tomorrow.

Sean

Sean, glad to hear it's all coming together so quickly for you. The interior panels came out nice. Nice job on the temporary set on the front end alignment being so close on it.

Subbed. What a cool build. Did I read you work in the HVAC field?

Thanks. I was more happy with the fact that everything was welded on in the right spots. I dont have any fancy tools at all so to get it that close made me happy.

Thanks Joemac. Yeah, was a journeymen fitter HVAC tech for 10 years before I moved into the office. You in the HVAC industry?

Looking good man.

It may be a bit much, ignore the audio stuff, but this is what I did in the back of my GMC when I got rid of the fuel tank.

Moved into the office, huh? Maybe I should look into that. :twak:

With your busted up arm, you might have to move into the office =)


Newly rebalanced driveline is in, test drives are all done, loading up tools and spare parts in the trailer now.

Hope to meet some new people and have a great time at Thunder Hill.

A little suprised to be making it down there considering the truck got pulled from a field in September....and the new engine was blown up =)

See you all tomorrow.

Dan, anything I need to being for you guys?

Sean

I was for about 8 years. Journeyman myself. Spent most of my time in residential retrofit and dabbled in service work. I found it a hard trade to live with, mainly due to poor work life balance. They try to run you pretty hard. I'm sure you can relate. I've since moved on to finish carpentry which I find much more suiting.

That being said, the in depth understanding I gained of electrical circuits, plumbing, fluid flow, and trouble shooting has helped me in all my other endeavors in life. It's made me a better hot rodder to boot.

So, LS or Coyote for cost economy? Being so early in, do you like the 5.0l? The 6.2l are pretty bad ass, but I think they are all 2v.

RIght on Sean! Glad to see it all come together.

Now just go out there and have a blast with it!

This thread is full of win!
Enjoy yourself Sean, you've earned this one!! I wish I lived out there, just so I could drive over to high five you. Epic recovery!

All good on this end.
Like I've said here before....I'll see you in California!

:thumbsup:

Agreed! Congrats and enjoy!

:trophy-1302: Heck of an effort, Sean. Glad you're on your way to the track. have fun and enjoy the time!

Sweet!

This truck works right out of the box, nice work!

I might have made major effort to get to thunderhill had I seen this thread! Wow... What a hoot! Great thrash! This is car building at its best to me. Good job! Hope you had fun out there! This needs a "spirit award"!!

Glad it came together in time for you to make it. It looks good out there on the track! Rock N Roll!!

K&N Filters Spirit of the Event Invitee- Sean Fogli, 1968 F100

Just posted! Congrats Sean!!!

:cheering: :king: :cheering: YEAH Sean!

Woot Woot!!!! Awesome!!

You guys are awesome. Mr. Weld.....you should have made the trip, it was an epic weekend =) and I would love to meet you in person someday.

I got to meet a ton of people from this forum, great people all of them. I loved talking with everyone (I am not great with names sorry about that)

Pretty great group we have here.

What an insane weekend, not even sure I can put it all into this post but I will give it a shot.

Rolled in with my friends from Seattle and their bad ass car. Got some fuel in the old girl and got through Tech and threw some stickers on it. Very cool place to spend some time.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psccx1xc04.jpg

So day 1 was autocross day and I was pretty nervous. I had done a few auto cross races but not enough to be good at it. I quickly found out a few flaws in my plan.....seat.....seatbelt. I ran through the auto cross course 11 times I think in the course of three hours. There were some incredibly quick cars there and crazy talented drivers.

Towards the end of my morning session I realized I had to do something about staying in the seat as I was having to hang onto the outside of the truck in order to stay in the seat, but it just was not working.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps71sb4mwk.jpg

I did make some incremental adjustments to the truck that morning though, adjusted the settings on the coilovers a couple of times to get it to flatten out a little bit more as well as dropped the air pressure in the tires to increase rearend grip. They both helped a ton and the truck was working really well.

It just so happens that my friend Dan (DBasher) had bought a set of ProCar buckets for his mustang project and he was picking them up there. I thought they might be close so I unbolted my seat and looked how close it would be. Two new holes in my brackets later and I had a seat that would hold me in.

The good eyes will also notice a steering wheels swap... this one has less dish, is an inch bigger and has nubbs on the back for traction. These two changes transformed the truck....I am learning a lot.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psjnqkzxt6.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7xcaplzu.jpg

Funny thing is that these seats put me in a way better driving position, lower and farther back. I ran the rest of the weekend with this setup.

So we got through lunch with the seat swap and off to the Speed Stop challenge. This is a little faster and really tests the take off, turn and brakes. This was awesome and I really enjoyed this, the truck did really well. It was awesome being lined up with all of these beautiful super high dollar cars in the staging lanes and holding my own =)

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psmqgnbxlf.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3aum98lc.jpg

Dan shot some great photos and sent them to me (Thanks Dan for the help all weekend, you and your boys made the weekend for me)

Truck flat hooks from a dig.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pscwytlnpj.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps82w9vnvy.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psnml2vwzz.jpg

Those that were asking how the brakes work pay attention here. FANTASTIC!!! It took me a few tries in the stop box to get it dialed in but the big girl comes to a stop and fast.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psvkvk9uuh.jpg

Great weight transfer and the truck did really well. Finished I think 13th out of 24 in my class. I have never done this before, I was really happy with how the truck performed so far.

Did the evening cruise with no issues and actually really enjoyed it. I met a ton of new friends and people and once the truck was out on the courses I got a few more people coming by to talk to me about it. Pretty sure people loved it :D

I went over it all early sunday morning and could not find an issue so far, all bolts were tight. Made some additional adjustments to the coilovers before hitting my track session.

I was really nervous to be honest.

I had three really great track sessions but slow, I am not comfortable on the track yet but the truck was awesome. First session was loose in the backend and I ran really low on fuel so I pulled off. Filled up the tank and the back end got a lot more planted. I need stiffer rear springs, I know that.

Keep in mind this is a pickup, built in my garage in just a few months and it was hanging with some pretty cool cars out on track.

I lost a power steering belt on the last session, ran the 15 minute session with no power steering and other than being a handful on the arms the truck still drove fine so I stayed out there the entire session.

Power was awesome, the motor did not miss a beat, has a ton of power and not to sound cocky but it sounds friggin incredible when I am on it.

Exhaust turned an awesome color at the end of the weekend after getting some hard beating for hours and hours.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psxrxm61bt.jpg

Tires are nicely scrubbed in and have worn pretty well. =)

So here is where the weekend took a turn.

These guys came over and started to talk to me, then they got a few more people to come over and look at the truck, then they wanted more information and asked if we could go take some better video and sit down and talk about the truck.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3lzu2ul1.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psfdns8lkw.jpg

It was super cool and they dug the truck.

So these guys shot a bunch of video of the truck. I got it all loaded up and ready to hit the road as I had not placed anywhere in the top spots.

Hanging out at the end watching them announce the class winners and they got ready to read out the overall but started with the "Spirit of the Event award" Presented by K&N. I had talked to Mike from K&N for a fair bit of time over the weekend.

I was in utter amazement when he called up number 68....that was my number. This was just not happening right now....Not it was real.

I hustled up on stage and shook Mike's hand and Jimmy Day from OPTIMA's hand and they asked me if I can make it to SEMA. Of course I can make it to SEMA.

They took a little video of the truck and me and we all got on our way.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psko4ma1k6.jpg

I could not be much happier with how the truck performed over the weekend, I have a lot to learn and some small changes to make like Brake Ducts, proper Seat, harnesses, some better front brakes (for brake fade on the track not more stopping power.)

Thanks all for the encouragement over the past few months, it was all totally worth it.

Sean

Congratulations, Sean--you've turned hotrodding into a science! We were all very impressed with how your truck looked and worked out there, because you're a hotrod maniac who takes the time not only for all-around booty-kickin' performance, but to make sure he has a damn nice interior. You've earned the credit!

It was good to meet you in person, but more importantly, it was fun to see you enjoying the hell out of your truck on Saturday, in perfect California weather. That's what it's all about. Here's to pics of the truck in Vegas!:bump:

I LOVE the seat change mid event!! That is AWESOME!

I just hope you got it D&E judged before the swap! :D Great recap, thanks for taking us along for the ride. Good luck the rest of the summer getting it dialed in for your trip to Vegas baby!!

Congrats on the award, Sean. All that hard work had paid off.

I attended OUSCI event last year for the first time, and had a blast.

Dude that is awesome! Glad all your crazy hard work paid off!

Great work on the truck, and the event. :trophy-1302:

I'd be curious to know what was wrong with your first engine when you tear it down. I'm wondering if that front end collision just smashed the thrust/main bearing back. Maybe a new set of bearings is all it needs? :headscratch:

Congratulation's Sean reading all the excitement in your post made me smile! No more thoughts of busted knuckles and bad motors. Only the sweet feel of Victory!!!!!! Good for you !

Just f'n awesomeness!!!!!

Hacksters truck
 

Sean,
Great job.. in our Pantera world we give out Iron Man Awards for
what you have accomplished.

As far as meeting Weld.. he is just a little crapper:)

Keep running the truck hard.. that is what it is all about

Bob